


Stupefied

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [52]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25631152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: After finding the Room of Requirement, Defence Against the Dark Arts training begins, and they are stupefied in more than one way.Thank you Blue (kiun.tumblr) for beta-ing
Relationships: Bishamonten | Vaisravana/Kazuma, Iki Hiyori/Yato
Series: In The Darkness [52]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/547369
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Stupefied

After the discovery of the Room of Requirement – and a brief telling off from Madame Kofuku – Yato, Yukine and Hiyori began preparing the classroom for their first session.

They agreed to train before or after dinner on alternating days, as to not raise suspicion, starting on Friday. Members would make their way up individually until everyone was gathered in the Room of Requirement. But first, they would have to know where to go.

At different intervals in the week, Yato, Yukine and Hiyori took their house members to the Room of Requirement and showed them how to enter it, being careful to make sure no one was watching.

Yukine took the Hufflepuffs up to the room on Monday morning, followed by Hiyori and the Gryffindors the following day. Yato took the Slytherins – along with Kazuma – a few days later. Yato reasoned that it would be less suspicious for Kazuma, a Prefect, to lead a small Ravenclaw group rather than Yato towing Ravenclaws and Slytherins all at once.

Despite being a Prefect, Kazuma agreed he wouldn’t rat them out to anyone, not when the Ministry was denying any claims about the Sorcerer without investigating them. For that Yato was thankful; Kazuma was one of the best students in Hogwarts and had become a good friend.

Kazuma had delivered on his promise to convince ‘Viina’ to keep quiet about this secret society they had created, agreeing that they needed a practical approach to defensive magic that the Ministry had banned. Yato was confused as to why Kazuma called Bishamon ‘Viina’, but Bishamon seemed to like it whenever he used the name endearingly.

Nevertheless, their plan was set in motion. All they could do was wait.

By four o’clock on Friday, the students had made their way up to the Room of Requirement. They milled around in mismatched house groups, talking quietly as they waited for the non-Ministry-approved class to start.

Yato, Hiyori and Yukine stood back near the corner where the door would be, counting and checking that everyone had arrived. As they looked over the group, Hiyori noticed that the Slytherins mainly kept to themselves aside from the Hufflepuffs, but that was to be expected with the house rivalry.

Hiyori’s eyes slid over to Bishamon at the thought of rivalry. Bishamon had been unnaturally nice to Yato this year, but she wasn’t complaining if it meant she wasn’t trying to deck Yato at any given opportunity.

It seemed that Kazuma had most of Bishamon’s attention nowadays anyway. Hiyori had spotted them together more times than she could remember within the first few weeks of being back at Hogwarts. The pair stood extremely close to each other in the opposite corner of the room, Prefect badges mirroring each other as they quietly talked. They were inseparable; one could mistake them for lovers. They had been to the Yule Ball together, after all. Hiyori mused over the idea that they may become a couple in the future before looking back and Yato and Yukine.

The trio had yet to change out of their uniforms as they had come straight upstairs after class, but the light sweater vests weren’t so bad as October’s chill crept in. Yukine had removed the bandage from his hand, showing a fading scar just about visible near his wrist, which allowed him to comfortably fit his hand in his trouser pocket.

Yato was observing the group tensely. His wand had become warm and sticky as he twisted it in both hands, his palms sweating more than usual.

Hiyori could see the nervousness on his face as he debated how to start the class.

“What are you starting with?” Hiyori broke the silence with a gentle voice, and Yato snapped out of his thoughts.

“Probably some stunning, it’ll get them interested quicker,” Yato replied after a moment. He sounded unsure of himself and his teaching abilities, but Hiyori digressed.

“That’s good,” Hiyori encouraged. “Maybe we should try duelling as well.”

Yato nodded mutely. The encouragement helped slightly, but there were still butterflies in Yato’s stomach. Fighting a dragon was less daunting than this.

“You better get teaching,” Yukine said. He had a smirk on his face, but Yato knew it was well-meaning. Yato’s people skills were pitiful at best, who knew how teaching would go.

Yukine slapped Yato on the back as he and Hiyori walked over to the disassembled group and stood opposite each other. The other students took a hint when they saw this and lined up face to face, creating an aisle that ran nearly all the way up to the fireplace. Kazuma and Bishamon stood beside Hiyori and Yukine.

The room fell silent and all eyes were on Yato.

Yato took a breath, pulled his shoulders back and strode over towards the group. He stood at the head of the group and side-eyed Hiyori as he spoke, his wand held tightly in his hand.

“Thank you for joining us today. I know this isn’t the best place, but it’ll have to do,” Yato started.

Hiyori gave him an indiscernible nod, signalling he was doing well so far.

Yato looked around at the curious faces, confidence growing. He cleared his throat and continued.

“We’re going to go through everything we’ve learned, and what you should be learning, about Defence: disarming your opponent, levitation, stupefying, any that protect you from the Dark Arts.”

Yato began to walk up the aisle of students divided between him, twisting his wand in his hand as he spoke.

“Stunning is the most important thing a wizard can learn,” Yato said, when a stupid – but good – idea came to him. “So, I want you all to duel me.”

Yato was a few feet away from the fireplace at the end of the room when he finally stopped and turned around. Everyone remained silent, exchanging nervous glances at the thought of a duel fellow classmate, albeit Yato was probably not an opponent they would select if they had the choice.

Yato half-expected Bishamon to jump at the chance, but the room remained silent. He could see Kazuma and Bishamon opposite each other looking down the aisle at other students, perhaps silently bidding one of the younger years to step forward and have a go.

Yukine and Hiyori, on the other hand, were mouthing at each other, with Yukine looking stubborn and Hiyori looking annoyed. A few seconds passed when, finally, someone stepped forward.

“I’ll go.”

Hiyori stepped forward, drawing her wand as she stood in the aisle and faced Yato.

Yato looked at Hiyori in surprise and opened his mouth to protest. He wouldn’t cast a spell against her knowing that it would hurt her, but this one would hurt. Unfortunately, it looked like he had no choice.

Yato quickly realised that Hiyori – and the rest of the class – was waiting, watching him expectantly. He pursed his mouth and nodded his head, taking up an attacking stance that mirrored Hiyori. He couldn’t be soft on her if he was trying to teach her to defend herself.

Yato flicked his wand. “ _Stu-_ ”

He was quickly cut off by Hiyori’s sharp voice cutting through the room. Her wand flicked and aimed directly at Yato’s chest.

“ _Stupefy!_ ”

A flash of blue left the tip of Hiyori’s wand and hurled at Yato, catching him off-guard as it slammed into him and knocked him a good few metres onto his back, landing in the fireplace.

The room erupted into small gasps and excited muttering as Hiyori lowered her wand and grinned.

Yato pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking at the Gryffindor in a surprised daze. Hiyori flashed him a smile. Her attention was quickly taken by a group – Kazuma and Bishamon included – who had swarmed to her to congratulate her on knocking Yato on his ass, leaving Yukine to sigh and walk over to Yato.

“I let her do that,” Yato said sheepishly as Yukine grabbed his forearm and pulled him up. “Boost her confidence, y’know.”

“Mm-hm, sure you did,” Yukine answered, obviously not believing the lie.

Yato broke out into a lopsided grin and scratched the back of his head. Hiyori had proved him wrong about her offensive magic, and he couldn’t help but feel proud even though it was at his expense.

“Don’t tell her I said that. She’ll probably do it again,” Yato said to Yukine.

Yukine smirked and looked to give the request some thought. “I’ll think about it.”

~

The students dispersed after a brief sparring session, dinner only a matter of minutes away. Some had been able to Stupefy their opponents whilst others could not, but there was plenty of time to learn.

Yato snuck the two-way mirror out of his dorm room and down to the Great Hall, keeping it hidden in the pocket of his jacket so he would be able to talk to Sakura with Hiyori and Yukine later. The table was laden with a roast dinner: potatoes, peas, chicken, triffle, all mouth-wateringly tantalising.

Yato helped himself to a plate of chicken and potatoes, eyes drifting across the room to Gryfinndor as he thought about their training session. He caught himself staring at Hiyori multiple times as she spoke to Bishamon and other Gryffindors, a few of which were in their secret Defence class.

The spell was only broken when Hiyori looked across to Slytherin at the end of the meal and caught Yato watching her. Yato startled and quickly looked away, pretending to be immersed in his desert, but Hiyori was already making her way over to him. Hiyori tapped Yukine on the shoulder as she passed him on the edge of Hufflepuff’s table, signalling him to come with her.

Yato turned on the bench when they came up behind him, trying to repress the embarrassment of being caught staring at Hiyori.

“You finished dinner?” Yato asked. Hiyori nodded in response, but Yukine looked longingly back at his table. He wanted more dessert.

“Shall we go to the library?” Hiyori asked. “We might find some useful Defence ideas.”

This earned a scoff from Yukine. He tore his eyes away from his table, all hopes of second servings dashed, and looked at Hiyori. “It’s the weekend, Hiyori. No studying.”

“Actually, we need to talk to someone,” Yato said.

Hiyori and Yukine gave Yato a curious look at this announcement but followed him out of the Great Hall without question.

They walked down a few corridors away from the bustle of the main staircase, and, when the coast was clear, entered one of the empty classrooms. They gathered at the back of the classroom where moonlight shone through the lattice window, but still, it was nearly pitch black. Yukine pulled out his wand and muttered _‘Lumos’_ and a soft glow illuminated their faces. 

Yato pulled the mirror from his pocket and held it up so they could all see. “Sakura.”

In an instant Sakura had appeared in the mirror in place of Yato’s obscured reflection.

“Yato!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Hi Sakura,” Yato replied. Sakura smiled as Yato greeted her, hearing Hiyori and Yukine chime in quickly with greetings just out of sight.

“Are you ok? I haven’t heard from you in a while,” Yato asked.

Sakura’s smile slipped and she averted her eyes for a brief second. She knew Yato worried if he didn’t hear from her in a while, as he had told her at Grimmauld Place.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been working with the Order trying to get the prophecy,” Sakura admitted.

 _Hiyori was right about that,_ Yato thought, and a wave of relief passed through him. Oddly, he wasn’t annoyed at her.

“Did you find somewhere to train yet?” Sakura asked.

“Yes,” Hiyori chimed in. She leant in closer to Yato, to look into the frame, and his heart fluttered at the closeness of their faces. Yato directed the frame more towards Hiyori as she spoke. “We found the Room of Requirement.”

Sakura broke into a smile once again. “That’s great!” Sakura exclaimed.

“Hiyori found it, actually,” Yato cut in.

Yato turned the frame back to face himself, and Hiyori was thankful that the light from Yukine’s wand wasn’t bright enough to reveal her bashful smile.

“We’ve got a good group, we had our first class today,” Yato said.

Sakura nodded her approval. “That’s good. I’ll tell Madame Kofuku, she may be able to cover for you if something goes wrong.”

Yato quirked his head to the side and frowned. “What do you mean, ‘go wrong’? No one can find the Room of Requirement, can they?”

Sakura sighed and rubbed the side of her face with her free hand. “The Order has a few members within the Ministry of Magic. They’re hearing rumours that Tenjin may be creating an army to overthrow him.”

“That’s stupid!” Yato exclaimed. “We weren’t recruited by the Headmaster! We did this because the Minster doesn’t want us learning!”

Hiyori and Yukine agreed quietly, eyeing the door in case someone had heard Yato’s outburst and decided to investigate. The door stayed closed.

“Things aren’t looking so good in the Order either.”

Sakura’s voice had turned darker, and Yato felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. It reminded him of the voice Sakura had when she had found him at the Shrieking Shack, worn down and desperate after years of fighting.

“Some of the Order members have disappeared. Whether they were caught spying by the Ministry, or they were double agents for the Sorcerer, or turned to the Dark Arts, we don’t know.”

Yato, Hiyori and Yukine looked at each other, eyes wide. If there were traitors, captives or double agents, the Order was at risk of being compromised…

And so was the prophecy. 

“I wish I could be of more help, but I’m afraid I can’t,” Sakura looked into the mirror for a moment, eyes distant as she spoke, and Yato could see a flicker of uncertainty.

“The Sorcerer is moving, Yato. And it looks like you’re on your own.”

~

For the next few weeks, Defence training continued. By mid-October they had lit a fire in the fireplace and brought extra lamps into the Room of Requirement as the days became shorter and colder.

They had covered stunning, levitation and disarming over the last few weeks, refining their defensive magic and learning what the Ministry had forbade.

However, a few students couldn’t master the spells as easily. Yugiha, a Gryffindor boy, sweat too much and would fling his wand across the room when casting any spell. The misfires would have everyone drop and take cover until he was politely asked to practice in a corner with a Death Eater mannequin.

Now, they were putting their skills to the test by sparring each other.

Hiyori smiled as she watched the group pairing off and duelling, proud of how far they had come in such a short time. She had stunned Yato easily the first time, but Yukine had managed to beat both her and Yato narrowly when they duelled in their first session, and he only seemed to grow stronger.

Yukine seemed more determined than he did at the beginning of term, throwing himself into Defence and helping those less experienced than him. Hiyori watched as Yukine directed a pair of Ravenclaw boys, standing back as they began to duel, and smiling when one of them landed a perfect hit that sent the other flying backwards.

As she watched, Hiyori couldn’t help but think that Yukine’s strength and resilience came from seeing the delicate scar on his hand every time he raised his wand.

Hiyori’s own magic was improving under Yato’s teaching, in duelling as well as endurance as she was able to keep her friend Aimi levitating for an extended period of time. She didn’t even mind having to do boring, meaningless work in Professor Oshi’s class if it meant she got to do this.

Unsurprisingly, the stars of the class were Kazuma and Bishamon. They were two of the few sixth years who had joined them, so their skills were higher, but it was still impressive to watch them.

Watching them duel was like watching a dance, and Hiyori loved it. They turned at the same time, spoke at the same time, moved at the same time. They duelled professionally, saluting with their wands before pacing away.

Hiyori watched, counting their paces that they always matched before they duelled. Secretly, she always rooted for Bishamon, and she normally won.

 _Eight, none, ten…_ Hiyori counted the echoed footfalls, but Bishamon was late.

Kazuma spun exactly on time and spat the spell out, too late to realise that his wand was aimed straight at Bishamon’s back. “ _Stupefy!_ ”

Bishamon spun around a fraction too late, wand raised and eyes wide. Kazuma’s wand spat out a ball of blue light that slammed into the side of her torso before she could deflect the spell. Bishamon yelped at the impact, the spell throwing her to the cold flagstones a fair distance back.

She lay on her side, unmoving, her wand in her limp outstretched hand. Her long golden hair splayed out beneath her and partially covered her face.

The room fell silent and looked at the fallen Prefect in shock, and then at Kazuma, but nothing could match the look of sheer terror on Kazuma’s face as he realised what he had done.

He killed Bishamon.

Kazuma dropped his wand to the floor and ran to Bishamon, as did Hiyori and Yato, who had abandoned the Hufflepuff he was coaching.

Kazuma reached her first, breath shaky. “Viina…”

Kazuma slowly crouched down, hand outstretched to brush Bishamon’s hair away from her face.

Bishamon’s hand twitched, and before Kazuma could react, her wand darted up and aimed straight at his chest.

“ _Stupefy!_ ”

Kazuma was sent soaring upwards with a yell, limbs flailing, and would’ve landed directly on Hiyori if Yato hadn’t pulled her out of the way. Kazuma landed on his ass on the flagstones with a grunt, sending a searing pain up his coccyx and injuring his pride.

Yato and Hiyori stopped short, Yato’s hand still holding Hiyori’s arm as they watched with stunned faces.

“Aww, did I scare you?” Bishamon cooed. She had sat up, hands planted on the ground with a sweet smile directed at Kazuma’s flabbergasted expression. “You can’t let your guard down, Kazuma.”

Hiyori slowly realised that Bishamon had let Kazuma hit her on purpose; he had become too accustomed to duelling friends where he never truly hurt anyone. What better way to test him than getting him to hurt someone he cared about?

Although it was slightly demented logic, Yato couldn’t help but let out a snort of laughter that he didn’t bother disguising. Hiyori bit back a smile as Kazuma hobbled to his feet and begrudgingly offered Bishamon a hand up.

Bishamon took it and Kazuma pulled her to her feet. She smiled cockily and did something no one expected.

She kissed him on the lips.

Kazuma seemed startled, eyes widened behind the frame of his glasses, but after a second, he kissed her back. The room stared at them in continuous stunned silence. Yato and Hiyori looked at each other, mouths open.

_They weren’t…_

But as they pulled apart and stood hand in hand in front of the class – which broke into whoops and wolf whistles –, it was clear that Kazuma and Bishamon were officially a couple.

**Author's Note:**

> :3c


End file.
